


I'm Surprised You've Stuck Around THIS Long.

by WhisperOfWarmth



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), kylux - Fandom
Genre: Acceptance, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Alternate universe-The Force Awakens, Armitage Hux Needs A Hug, Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren Fluff, Bad Parent Han Solo, Best Friends, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Coming Out, Diabetes, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Family Issues, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Fluffy Ending, Forgiveness, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gay, Gay Character, Gay Male Character, Han Solo's A+ Parenting, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Kylo Ren Needs a Hug, Kylo Ren and Rey Are Related, Kylux - Freeform, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Loving Marriage, M/M, Minor Leia Organa/Han Solo, Protective Kylo Ren, Rejection, Romantic Fluff, Same-Sex Marriage, Short & Sweet, Short Story, Soft Kylux, Soulmates, Star Wars - Freeform, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015) - Freeform, Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 13:22:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13032012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhisperOfWarmth/pseuds/WhisperOfWarmth
Summary: Kylo Ren and Armitage Hux have very full lives.They've been in a committed relationship for the past 7 years, and have been married for 1. As they both work, go to school, and participate in their various extracurricular activities, their lives are often hectic, but filled with the love and laughter of close friends, and each other.There's one thing that keeps their situation from being ideal: their parents.Neither of the boys' parents have been supportive or accepting of their relationship, in effect cutting them off completely once hearing of their nuptials.However, with the holiday season approaching, both are hoping that there can be a change in this situation for the better.





	I'm Surprised You've Stuck Around THIS Long.

Hux was standing with his forehead against the wall, eyes closed, breathing in and out shallowly. 

Kylo walked through the front door, saw this, and sighed. 

He calmly sat Hux down in a chair, then reached on to the high shelf behind him. He found his testing kit and opened it up.

He took one of the alcohol wipes and cleaned Hux's finger. Then he gently lifted up his hand and pricked him with the needle, getting the drop of blood necessary for the test.

"Hmm," he said, frowning. "52? That's extremely low, Hux. We've got to get some food in you."

He bent down and lifted Hux out of the chair, easily carrying him into the kitchen. He set him at the table and poured him a tall glass of juice, sticking a straw in it so he wouldn't have to physically pick it up.

Hux was still fairly disoriented, but he was aware enough to realize that Kylo wanted him to drink. He bent his head over the straw and took long, slow sips.

Meanwhile, Kylo was cutting up different fruits into a bowl, humming to himself. When he was done, he brought the bowl to the table, along with a fork.

"Open," he said, lifting a chunk of melon to Hux's mouth.

They continued on like that for 10 minutes, Hux sipping his juice and Kylo feeding him bits of fruit. By the time the bowl was empty, Hux had more or less returned to his normal self. 

Kylo got up and brought his kit in, and Hux tested himself once more. 

"118," he said, taking another sip of juice. That's better."

Kylo sat and watched him a while, before saying, "Hux. This is the second time this week this has happened. It's not healthy, to let yourself get so low that you're nearly unresponsive. It's dangerous, and it worries me."

"I'll be fine," Hux said, waving off Kylo's concern like he usually did. "I've just been a little stressed out this week, because of finals. Once they're over, everything will be fine."

Kylo sighed and stood up. "I hope so," he said, as he began to rummage in the cabinets for a snack for himself. He found an unopened box of Twinkies and pulled it out, sitting back at the table with it.

"So how was practice?"

Kylo was on the hockey team at their school. He was, in fact, the leader of the team. Kylo's grandfather had been a pro hockey player in his youth, and he had transferred his love of the game to his only grandson. When he passed on, he left all of his old "lucky" jerseys to Kylo, as well as his beloved practice helmet. Part of Kylo's pre-game ritual was to sit and talk to the thing, to hold a full-on conversation with it. It creeped Hux out, a little, but he never complained. And maybe it worked; the team was on a 5 game winning streak so far this season.

Hux was proud of him and his skills, but at the same time he dreaded having to go to games. Not because they were in anyway boring, but because it was always so cold. Hux was quite thin, and didn't do so well in the cold.

"It was good," said Kylo from around a mouthful of Twinkie. "Except Mitaka, our goalie, decided he didn't need his damn mask for the last 30 minutes. He took a puck right to the nose. Blood _everywhere_."

Hux knew that he shouldn't laugh, but he couldn't help it. Kylo often complained about Mitaka, how loud and obnoxious he was.

"Is it true that blood bounces off of ice?", Hux asked him curiously. "I remember either hearing or reading that somewhere."

Kylo laughed. "I don't know if it's true, weirdo. Next time someone takes a hit, I'll hurry over and see."

Hux snickered. "I can see that; like you zooming over screaming GET OUT OF THE WAY; DID HIS BLOOD BOUNCE?!"

Both boys broke into laughter at that. Kylo was the first to stop, and he opened up another Twinkie. "Well, it should make people happy if I did that, because then I'd finally be taking school seriously, right? Blood counts as science, doesn't it?"

He said this as a jest, but Hux could sense the sadness beneath his words. Hux was a brilliant student, but Kylo wasn't in the least. Even with Hux's help and tutoring, he could just barely keep his grades at the minimum level required to play a sport.

And it wasn't that Kylo was 'dumb', in any sense. Far from it; Kylo was probably one of the most intelligent, deep-thinking individuals Hux had ever met. He had uncanny instincts and intuition in regards to life, and people were often coming to him for advice, asking how he felt about something or other.

But for some reason, this raw intelligence had never translated over into his academic life. He had trouble becoming invested in what he was learning, and had a hard time concentrating and keeping focus on the task at hand.

Hux suspected that Kylo might have a mild form of ADHD, but was never quite brave enough to suggest this to him. So he stuck with helping him however he could, and, for the most part, it worked out.

Changing the subject, Kylo asked him, "So how was your meeting?"

Hux was Vice-President of the student government. He spent a great deal of time each week in meetings, organizing school events, planning fundraisers, and the like. This last week had been somewhat stressful for him, because, in addition to the burden of finals, Hux and his team were trying to plan several different community events to raise money for a new auditorium.

"I don't know, Kylo. It feels like we've exhausted every possible idea for making money. We've already had the car wash, we've had like 2 separate bake sales, and last week we had that silent auction. But all of those things together didn't raise even half of our goal."

"You guys auctioned off things, right?"

Hux nodded.

"Have you tried that, but with people?"

Hux frowned and shook his head. "Auctioning off people sounds a lot like slavery, dear."

"No, no, I mean like, for dates. You put someone up there, tell people about their good qualities, and have people bid to take them on a date."

Hux started to laugh again. " _That_ sounds like prostitution."

Kylo sighed. He looked down into the box of Twinkies; he had eaten almost all of them. He got up and stuck the box back in the cabinet, before sitting back down.

"You're no fun, you know that?"

"So I've been told. And besides, your idea wouldn't work, because the one everyone would want to date, isn't available."

"Yeah? Who's that?"

Hux got up and stood behind Kylo, wrapping his arms around his broad shoulders. He leaned over and kissed him on the mouth.

"You. Of course."

Kylo blushed, looking down at the table. "Nobody wants to date me, Hux. I'm surprised you've stuck around this long."

Kylo and Hux had been together since their freshman year of high school. While their friends had all been supportive of their relationship, their fathers had not been. Kylo's mother had wanted a relationship with her son, but was caught in the middle between him, and her husband. They had tried literally everything to get the two to separate, including an attempt to send Kylo to live with his uncle, but to no avail. Their efforts actually served to bond the two closer than ever, making them a team.

Kylo had reacted quite strongly to his parents' disapproval, even going so far as to legally change his first name, in a bid to distance himself from that pain and rejection.

Hux (whose first name was Armitage, but, due to his hatred of it, insisted everyone refer to him by his last name only) had turned 18 first, and he used the money he had received from a recent inheritance to rent an off-campus apartment close to the school. Kylo had joined him shortly afterwards, and the two had been living there for almost 3 years.

And just last year, the day after Kylo's 20th birthday, he and Hux got legally married, with Kylo making the choice to take Hux's last name. It was simple, really; just a justice of the peace ceremony with a few of their closest friends, and a small party at their apartment afterwards. It was lovely, and emotional, yet somewhat sad.

Kylo didn't know it, but Hux had called his own father the day before the wedding, telling him of his and Kylo's intentions. His father had hung up on him mid-sentence, and that had been the last time they ever spoke.

Hux didn't know it, but Kylo had done the same thing, with his own parents. He was met with much the same reaction as Hux had received.

Aside from all that, though, married life was wonderful for them. 

But it was hard, at first.

Both of the boys had very strong personalities, and they found that living together was a huge switch from merely visiting one another at their parents' houses. It took a long while of patience and communication to get used to each other.

And it didn't exactly help, that they were both almost constantly busy. In addition to school, and their individual activities, both had jobs. 

Kylo worked 4 days a week, Monday-Thursday, 12 hour shifts, overnights, in a shipping warehouse. The pay was high but the work was tiring. He often walked around the next day in a zombie-like trance, getting just a few precious hours of sleep in-between activities.

Hux worked on-campus in the school registrar's office. His work, while not physically exhausting like Kylo's, was very, very tedious. He spent hours talking people through things they likely could have figured out for themselves, or staring at the screen of a computer.

Yet despite the difficulties, they had more than managed to have a healthy, happy relationship. Each day that they could wake up next to each other was a blessing, and it was one that they never took for granted.

Hux kissed him again, then went into the living room. 

"It's Friday night, you know. You don't have to work, we COULD be out doing something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. We could go get wasted."

Kylo followed him into the living room, plopping beside him on the couch.

"Wasted? Okay, cool. Let me grab a shower real quick," he said, kicking off his shoes and propping his feet up on the coffee table.

Hux grabbed the blanket from behind the couch and draped it over both of them, before snuggling against Kylo. "Okay, I'll go get dressed."

Kylo yawned, and put his arm around Hux, holding him close. He picked up the remote and brought up NetFlix, finding the last episode of Stranger Things they had left off on.

Within minutes, Hux had fallen asleep against Kylo.

Kylo wasn't far behind.

. . . . . .

The semester finally drew to a close, and the dread of final exams was behind them. Hux had aced nearly everything, of course, and Kylo had done much better than he expected.

They had a two week Winter Vacation between the end of one semester, and the beginning of the next. Both were relieved to have at least one thing less to worry about, and with Hux, it was a complete vacation, as his job was closed, and student government was on recess. 

Kylo picked up some extra shifts overnights at his own job, and he had two games scheduled during those two weeks, but was otherwise granted a small piece of relaxation time, as well.

One evening, after Kylo had left for work, Hux sat in the living room, listening to music and wrapping one of Kylo's Christmas presents. They had decorated the small apartment as festively as they could, with a small, tinsel-covered tree, colorful lights hung up around the room, and a wreath hanging over the door.

Kylo was exactly like a child when it came to Christmas, and Hux had had a hell of a time hiding his gift, which were tickets to go see a WWE live event that was coming to town in a couple of weeks. The tickets for this show had sold out rather quickly, and Kylo had grumbled about it nearly every day since.

Unbeknownst to him, Hux had a friend who worked at the Ticketmaster center in town, and was able to snag Hux some premium seating tickets for the event. Wrestling wasn't really Hux's thing, so he hoped Kylo wouldn't be offended when he "suggested" that Kylo take their mutual friend, Phasma, instead.

He had bought a huge box to put the tickets in, as a visual joke. He smiled to himself thinking of how Kylo would undoubtedly pick up the box and shake it, trying to guess what was inside, only to be met with nothing. No sound, no weight, not anything that would give him a clue.

A knock on the door pulled him from his wrapping, and he sighed to himself, getting up to answer it.

He stared, slightly shocked; it was Mrs. Solo.

Kylo's mother.

"Hello, Hux," she said, somewhat shyly. "I'm sorry to bother you, I know it's late; is my son home?"

Hux shook his head. "No, he's at work."

He pulled the door open wider. 

"Do you -- do you want to come in?"

"Yes, thank you," she said, stepping inside. She took a quick look around herself before going to sit on the couch. Hux followed slowly.

"Can I get you something to drink? Coffee, tea, water, soda?"

She shook her head. 

"I'm fine."

Hux sat down beside her, looking at her expectantly.

"You boys have a nice place here. So clean. Surprising considering how messy Ben is."

Ben was Kylo's 'real' first name. Mrs. Solo knew about the name change, but apparently didn't acknowledge it.

Hux just nodded at her observation. "I don't mean to be rude, Mrs. Solo, but why are you here?"

She looked down at her purse. 

"I haven't seen or spoken to Ben in a long time," she said, quietly. "With the holidays coming up, well, I've been missing him. I wanted to come and make sure he was okay."

" _Kylo_ is doing just fine, ma'am," he said, subtly correcting the name. "We both are."

She nodded, still looking down. "I can see that." She began to fiddle with her purse strap. "There is another reason I'm here, though; I wanted to invite the both of you to Christmas dinner."

"Christmas dinner?", he repeated, warily. "I, uh, I don't know about that. I don't know how Kylo would --"

"I would have just called to talk to him, but, well, you know he hasn't given me his new phone number." Now she looked at Hux hopefully. "I don't suppose YOU would --?"

Hux shook his head. "That's his decision, not mine. I'm sorry."

She nodded, accepting this. She stood up. "I understand. Well, can you tell Ben I stopped by, and of my offer?"

"I can do that, yes," Hux said, standing as well.

She walked to the door. "If he decides -- if you BOTH decide you want to come, please, tell him to call me. Our number hasn't changed."

Hux nodded and opened the door. "Alright. Have a good night, Mrs. Solo."

She stepped into the hall and faced him, giving him a sad smile. "You, too, Hux."

. . . . . .

When Kylo got home the next day, Hux was up and waiting for him. It was a little after 7am, and Hux had made coffee, and Kylo's favorite (though weird) breakfast, of scrambled eggs covered in ketchup, burnt bacon, and 6 pieces of toast, 3 with jelly, 3 with peanut butter.

"Have I mentioned yet that I fucking love you?", Kylo asked him, nearly knocking Hux off his feet with a huge hug.

"You fucking love me, or you love fucking me?", Hux asked, with a smirk.

"Both," Kylo said, playfully smacking Hux's behind before sitting at the table. Hux sat down next to him, with a glass of juice.

"That better not be all you're eating, Hux," Kylo said sternly, digging into his own plate. "No more low blood sugar."

"I had cereal before you came home," Hux said, stealing a piece of bacon from Kylo's plate. He chewed it nervously, before saying,

"Um, I, uh, have something to tell you."

Kylo looked up. "What, are you pregnant or something? Did I forget to pull out?"

"Ha ha, very funny. No, um, you promise you won't get mad?"

Kylo frowned, seeing that Hux was being serious.

"Yes?"

"Okay. Well. After you left for work last night, we had a visitor."

"A visitor? At 10 at night? Who the hell would --"

"Your mother."

All the color drained from Kylo's face, and he slowly put down his fork.

"My mother?"

"Your mother."

"Why?"

"Two reasons, actually. One, she wanted to see how you were doing; she says she's missed you. And two --"

"Bull. Shit.", Kylo said, between clenched teeth. "Does 'missing' me mean no calls, no visits, not even so much as a goddamned _letter_ , all this time?!"

Hux calmly sipped at his juice. "I don't know, babe. But the second reason is, she wanted to invite the both of us to Christmas dinner."

"Christmas dinner?!", Kylo roared, slamming his fist down on the table. The impact was hard; Hux's glass of juice went smashing to the floor, as did the majority of Kylo's eggs. "Like I would even step ONE FOOT over there? Like I would bring YOU over there, after the way they shut us out, pretended we didn't exist?!"

Hux got up and went to get a dishcloth for the spilled juice, carefully skirting the area of broken glass. The last thing he needed was to cut his foot and add blood to the mess on the floor.

Behind him, Kylo was still ranting: I hope you shut the door in her face. I hope you told her to go fuck herself. I --"

"You know I didn't do any of that, Kylo," Hux said calmly, dabbing at the spilled juice. "I told her the decision was yours. She said to call her if you decided you wanted to go."

Kylo, seeming to have himself under control again, got up and got the broom, beginning to sweep up his spilled eggs. When he finished, he moved to sweep up the glass on Hux's side of the table.

"No," he said quietly, after awhile. "No, I don't want to go. Okay?"

"Okay," said Hux. He leaned over and hugged him, kissing his cheek. "We won't talk about this anymore if you don't want to."

Kylo nodded, then got up and emptied his dustpan into the garbage.

"I think -- I think I'm just tired. I'm going to go to bed for awhile, but don't let me sleep all day. We'll go to the movies or something later, okay?"

"Okay. Have a good nap. And Kylo?"

"Yeah?"

"Have I mentioned yet, that I fucking love you?"

. . . . . .

It was cold.

It was several days later, and Hux was sitting high up in the stands, watching the hockey game down below. The game was a close one, with both teams scoring goals back to back to back. Kylo himself had scored 3 of their teams' goals.

Hux was sitting with Phasma. He and Phasma had been next door neighbors when they were kids, and best friends pretty much their entire lives. She was one of the first people he ever came out to, and was his most vocal supporter when he started his relationship with Kylo.

And she had been his "best man" when they got married.

Kylo had grown to love her, as well, and the three of them made an excellent trio.

Hux was glad to have her company, now, and her warmth.

And her advice.

He leaned against her, sipping his coffee.

"So what did he say?", she was asking him. He had told her about Kylo's mother visiting and extending the dinnertime invitation to them.

Hux looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Let's just say, he did not react well, Phas."

She nodded as if she had expected as much.

"I probably wouldn't, either. But at the same time, you know I couldn't imagine not being around my family during this time of year. It must be hard for him. For BOTH of you."

Hux nodded. He had abandoned his own relationship with his father as a lost cause, after numerous attempts to reach out to him these past few years. It was hard, but he had accepted that that door in his life was closed, and there was no opening it. 

But with Kylo, he still held out hope that he could reconcile with his own parents. 

Kylo's did have contact with his uncle Luke, and his cousin Rey. Hux had never met Luke, but Luke had sent them a sweet hand-written card when he heard they got married. And Rey, was wonderful. She was a junior in high school, and had come to visit them several times over the past few years. She had even come to a few of his games, sharing snacks and chatting away with Hux in the stands.

She was bubbly and sweet, and, like her father, she treated the relationship between her cousin and Hux as the most natural thing in the world. She was an artist, and had gifted them, as a 'wedding' present, a gorgeous painting of the ocean bathed in moonlight, that they framed and hung up in their bedroom.

She and Kylo texted back and forth constantly, and if she had known that his mother was going to visit, she likely would have warned him beforehand.

"I don't know about me," Hux answered Phasma's observation, taking another slug of coffee, "But I know it's tearing him up inside. I feel like he wants to go, but is too stubborn to admit it. More importantly, I think he NEEDS to go. Even if it's a disaster and they end up not speaking ever again. He needs some kind of closure, you know?"

Phasma nodded. 

"Have you tried saying that to him, like in the way you just told me?"

Hux shook his head. "I don't want to upset him again."

"Yeeeeah, but sometimes we have to upset the people we love, you know? It's for their own good."

Below them, their team scored a goal, and everybody cheered. It was the end of the game and their team had won, 7-4.

Kylo looked up in their direction and waved, and they both waved back. Then he skated back to the locker room with his team.

"You wanna go get pizza or something?", Hux asked as they stood up.

"What about Kylo?"

"He told me before the game that if the team won, they're going out to eat. So he won't be home until later."

"Okay," said Phasma as they made their way down the rows. "But no pizza, let's do Chinese."

. . . . . .

Hours later, and Hux was sitting up on the couch, struggling to stay awake, still waiting for Kylo. He had overdone it on the Chinese food a bit, and his blood sugar had spiked up far past normal. He had dosed himself with insulin, and after awhile, the level went back to normal, but now he was sluggishly tired.

Finally the key rattled in the door, and Kylo came in, hunched over, his jacket draped over something in his arms.

Hux looked at him over the back of the couch, and Kylo jumped a little, as if surprised to see him still awake.

"Oh! Um, hey, I'm home," he said, sounding suspicious.

Hux stared at him.

"What's under the coat?"

"Promise you won't get mad?"

Hux got up immediately, going over to him.

"No promises. You're two hours late and you're hiding something from me. Now what is it?!"

Sheepishly, Kylo pulled the coat back.

In his hands was an extremely tiny, cold, gray-blue kitten. It was walking nervously back and forth in Kylo's hand, mewing.

"Kylo, where--"

"I found it. You know the alley behind our parking lot? He was there all by himself, meowing. Its so cold out, I couldn't just leave him."

High sighed and reached over, cautiously petting the cat behind the ears. It purred.

"No, I suppose not. I assume you want to keep him?"

Kylo nodded eagerly.

"Tomorrow, then, we're going to have to take him to the pet clinic, get shots, then to the pet store for food, dishes, a bed --"

"You mean you're okay with this?"

"If it's something you really want, yes. Besides, it's kinda cute," Hux admitted, smiling.

Kylo set the cat gently on the carpet, then wrapped both arms around Hux in a tight hug.

"You're kinda cute, too," he said, pressing his lips into Hux's. "More than 'kinda', actually."

Hux grinned and kissed him back, hard. "Same to you. By the way, we have a problem."

"What?"

"Well, see, I was supposed to take a shower hours ago, but I've just been so tired that it's hard to get up. I think I need assistance getting there."

Kylo immediately bent and lifted Hux up. Hux wrapped his legs around Kylo's waist, his arms around his shoulders.

"You think the cat will be okay, if I stayed and helped you in the shower? Precautionary measures, you understand."

"I think it'll be fine," Hux told him, kissing him again.

. . . . . .

An hour later found them in their bedroom, finally ready to settle in for the evening. 

They had given the cat a small bowl of warmed milk, which it lapped up greedily. Hux had found a shoebox for the kitten, lining it with old rags and one really large, soft sweater for it to sleep in. It made itself a nest in the clothes and settled down to sleep.

Hux watched it before saying, softly, "You know, this is like, the official start of our family. Now we have a child."

"You're right. What should we name it?"

Hux pursed his lips, thinking. "How about . . . Smoky? His fur is that cool smoke color."

"But what if it turns out to be a girl?"

"I think Smoky works both ways," Hux said with a grin.

Kylo nodded. "Okay. Smoky."

Taking a deep breath, Hux quietly said, "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Some day, me and you -- do you WANT kids some day? Like, real kids?"

With no hesitation whatsoever, Kylo reached across the bed and grabbed Hux's hand, squeezing it tightly. "I want EVERYTHING with you. Kids, more pets, a house, one of those mini-vans with the stick figure family decal on the window, everything."

"And would you want our kids to have everything?"

"Of course."

"Me too. And I think 'everything' includes them having a meaningful relationship with their grandparents."

Kylo pulled his hand away slowly, frowning.

"Hux -- some things, they're just not possible. Sometimes you've got to accept what IS, even if it's not what you want it to be."

"I agree with that, but I also think that if there's even a _chance_ that something might work, you've gotta take it. Your mother, she was reaching out to you. I think you should reach back."

Kylo was quiet for awhile, and when he spoke again, his voice was very low.

"I'm scared," he said, sounding ashamed of the admission. "It's been so long, and so much has happened since the last time I saw her. We got married, and we have this life together; like, I don't need them ruining that, if that makes sense."

"I understand. But you only focus on the dark side of things, and not the positive. Maybe, it'll be great. Maybe we'll go, eat some food, have some laughs, and it'll be just fine. But we won't know, if we just stay away, you know?"

Kylo nodded reluctantly. 

"Christmas isn't for 4 more days. I just need some time to think on it, okay?"

Hux smiled and nodded.

"Take as much time as you need, babe. Sleep on it."

Kylo pulled Hux back into his arms, burying his face in Hux's soft hair.

"I'd rather sleep on you," he muttered, closing his eyes.

. . . . . .

Christmas morning rolled around, and it was a happy affair for the two of them.

Kylo had gotten Hux the entire deluxe boxed series of the Halloween movies, which Hux had been hinting about since September. And Kylo was ridiculously jubilant over his WWE tickets, jumping up and down and kissing Hux repeatedly.

Together, they had gotten Smoky (who DID turn out to be a girl, after all) a little pink collar with her name on it, and a little jingly, catnip-filled ball to chase around the room.

After breakfast, Kylo began to get more and more nervous, fidgeting and pacing around the house.

Hux watched him for a while before saying, "Calm down, Ky. It's going to be all right."

Last night, after a few days' agonizing deliberation, Kylo gave his mother a call, and said that he and Hux would be there for Christmas dinner. 

He had made Hux leave the room during the call, and he spent nearly an hour on the phone with her. Hux wasn't sure what they talked about, and Kylo wouldn't tell him, but Kylo had looked both excited, and terrified.

Now that the hour was approaching, he was more on-edge than ever.

"What am I gonna wear?", he asked worriedly.

"Wear whatever you want. They're not interested in your clothes, they're interested in you."

"I want to look nice."

Hux rolled his eyes and went into the kitchen. He was going to make his 'famous' jello cake to take to the dinner, and had waited until the last possible minute so that it would be really fresh.

He began laying the ingredients on the counter. "You know you always look nice, no matter what you wear. Hell, you could probably wear that smelly old helmet of your grandpa's and you'd still look like a million bucks."

Kylo followed him in, holding the cat. "My grandpas helmet is NOT smelly."

"Whatever. Hey, your parents aren't allergic to nuts, are they? Is it okay to put almonds in this?"

"Maybe skip those. Uncle Luke is mildly anaphylactic."

Hux turned around. "Your uncle Luke is going to be there? I didn't know that."

Kylo nodded. "Yeah, him and Rey. Which is good; at least if Rey's there, we'll have one friend."

Hux rolled his eyes and chuckled. "You're so dramatic, you know that? You act like we're about to march into hell."

Kylo put the cat down, then sat at the table with a pout. "It **feels** like it."

"You know what we should do? We should go buy some of those obnoxious Christmas sweaters, the scratchy ones that light up and everything. Like, get matching ones, and Santa hats, and just show up like that. Maybe wear khakis and Crocs to complete the effect."

Kylo started to laugh. "Oh, God, I can see my dad's face now, if we did that. I can hear him; he'd be like, 'Wow, kid, I always thought gay boys had fashion sense'", Kylo said in a near-perfect imitation of his father's gruff voice.

Hux laughed, stirring his ingredients together.

"You know, if you're that worried about appearance, just go naked. Lord knows that's when you look your best," he said, with a smirk.

Kylo laughed, then got up and kissed Hux's forehead.

"I could say the same to you, Armitage."

. . . . . .

It was intensely strange, pulling up to the house.

Hux had so many memories here that it was overwhelming. Playing video games in Kylo's basement, sitting on his front step as he waited for him in the mornings to walk to school with. Kylo's 16th birthday barbecue they had held in the backyard, where they had the 'legendary' water-gun fight. And later on, as their relationship progressed, sneaking through his window and into his bedroom after his parents had gone to sleep for the night.

The house looked the same as always, but Hux felt worlds older than the last time he had been here.

Looking at Kylo, he knew he was feeling the same thing.

He held the cake in one hand, and grabbed Kylo's with the other. He couldn't help but steal an appreciative glance at him; Kylo looked _good_. He was wearing his black double-breasted pea coat, under which he had on a black and white flannel shirt, just tight enough to show off his muscles. Black skinny jeans and gray boots completed this ensemble. 

Hux was wearing his leather trench coat, under which was a dark blue shirt that matched his eyes, and black pants.

He looked nice, but Kylo looked like a masterpiece.

"Goddamn, you look sexy," Hux told him as they began walking up the long driveway, hoping to get a smile from him. "I think we need to visit your old room and recreate some of the good old days."

Kylo did smile, but it was a quick, nervous smile.

"You don't look so bad yourself, Red."

By now they were at the door, and Kylo had started to breath hard.

Hux gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, trying to calm him. "Relax, okay? It's gonna be fine, I promise."

Kylo nodded, took a deep breath, and rang the bell.

It opened a few moments later, to reveal Rey, looking gorgeous in a pretty red dress.

"Merry Christmas, cousins!", she exclaimed, stepping outside to hug and kiss both of them. 

Hux smiled; he could see Kylo visibly relax, upon seeing Rey.

"Where's my --", he started to ask, but at that moment, his mother walked out of the kitchen.

She looked at her son.  
Her son looked at her.

"Ben," she finally said as she found her voice, stepping close. "I'm so happy you're here, son."

She timidly put her arms around him, squeezing him tightly. Ben was stiff in her grip at first, then he relaxed, putting his own arms around his mother.

"It's good to see you, mom," he said, kissing his mother's cheek.

She pulled away and looked at Hux. 

"I'm happy that you're _both_ here," she told him, giving him a soft (if slightly awkward) hug.

"Here, I made a little something for dessert," he said, holding out the cake towards her.

She took it and looked at it. "Is this jello cake?"

"It is."

She smiled widely, and said, "You're a literal lifesaver. I was just telling Rey that I hoped nobody minded I was too tired to make dessert. And jello cake is up there on my favorites list."

Hux smiled as well. "Good. I'm glad."

She told them to take off their coats and make themselves at home. 

"I'm just finishing up some stuff in the kitchen. Your dad went out to get some wine."

They hung their coats up by the door and followed Rey into the living room, where Kylo's uncle Luke was sitting.

"Ben!", he exclaimed, getting up and folding his nephew into a bear-hug. "My God, you've really put on some muscle! What happened to that skinny little kid I used to drive to soccer practice?"

Kylo smiled. "That kid, started playing hockey, like grandpa. And lifting a lot of weights."

Luke turned to Hux, and extended his hand. "And you must be Armitage, Ben's husband?"

Hux nodded, shaking his hand. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Sir."

"Call me Luke. We're family, aren't we?"

Hux grinned. Kylo's uncle was extremely disarming, and weirdly charismatic. Hux felt completely at-ease in his presence.

He also thought that Luke was just a tad bit nutty. He dove right into a story about how he thought his father (Kylo's grandfather) was 'haunting' his house. Kylo was enraptured, absolutely fascinated.

Suddenly the back door opened, and a loud voice said, "Its colder than a witch's tits outside!"

Kylo froze, then sat up straight. Hux gave his back a gentle rub, trying to calm him.

Suddenly, he was in the doorway between the living room and kitchen. Tall, almost as tall as Kylo, with a rugged face, and graying brown hair.

The half-smile on his face was identical to his son's.

"Ben. It's been a long time."

Ben stood up and went to his dad. "Yes, it has."

He extended his arm for a handshake. Han looked at the hand, ignored it, and pulled him into a hard hug.

Kylo seemed surprised, but he hugged his dad back.

Han let him go and walked over to Hux. 

"Armitage. It's good to see you, kid."

Hux shook his hand. "Likewise, Mr. Solo."

Leia came out and said "Dinner's ready!"

Everybody moved to the dining room, which Leia had decorated festively with candles, and her best glass dishes.

And what a spread:

Ham, chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, rolls, macaroni salad, and a slew of other things.

Everybody filled their plates, and began talking with each other.

Both of the boys were asked a lot of questions about school, their jobs, and their lives in general. Kylo's dad seemed particularly interested in Kylo's hockey games, and asked question after question about practices, maneuvers, and what-not.

Hux did more eating, and quiet listening, than he did talking. He was glad he had properly dosed himself before leaving home, or else all the rich food would have sent his blood sugar skyrocketing.

At some point, Luke piped up and said, pointing his fork at Ben, "I can't get over how different you are, Ben. So grounded, so mature. And so _happy_. Marriage must be doing wonders for you."

Kylo smiled, and grabbed Hux's hand, giving it a warm squeeze. "Best decision I ever made, uncle."

"Your -- your anniversary was recently, right?", Leia asked timidly.

"Yeah, we just celebrated our one year anniversary last month."

"It's already been a year? That's crazy," Rey said from across the table. "Did you do anything special?"

Both boys blushed. What they had done, was both of them had called into work, skipped school, and spent the entire day in bed, 'enjoying' each other.

"We just had a nice dinner, watched a movie," Hux answered, looking at Kylo with a tiny grin.

Leia and Rey cleared the table, and Leia brought in Hux's cake.

"Jesus this is good," Han said, after a few bites. "Which one of you made this?"

"Guilty," said Hux, pleased.

"So, I'm guessing you're like the 'wife' in your relationship?"

Leia reached over and hit him harder than Hux would have thought her capable of; and Kylo had the look on his face that told Kylo he was quickly going to go into a rant, unless he did something.

He subtly put his hand on Kylo's arm, before answering, 

"I guess you could say that. I'm a better cook, but to be really honest, he looks MUCH better in a dress and heels than I do."

A beat of silence, and then everyone, including Kylo, was roaring with laughter.

"I'm sorry," Han said, still laughing, "That was kind of a dickish thing for me to ask."

"That's okay," Kylo said, wiping laughter-tears from his eyes. "Let's be real, here; this is weird for all of us, isn't it?"

" _Really_ weird," Hux said.

" _Super_ weird," Rey supplied, with a smile.

"Table for Weird McWeirdton, party of six," said Luke.

And the laughter continued.

At the end of dessert, Leia and Rey began to clear the table and load the dishwasher, and Luke started to doze off in a chair in the living room.

Han asked Kylo and Hux to come to his den, to show them the new paneling he had installed.

When they got there, he shut the door, and turned to face both of them.

"I want to say something to you both, and I wanted to do it alone. It's hard for me to admit when I've been wrong, but I have been wrong. Ben, when you were in high school, and you told us you were dating him, I thought, he's just experimenting. And then everything escalated. You moved in together, then the next thing I know I hear you've gotten married, and now we're talking anniversaries. I'm sorry. Both of you, I'm sorry. It's obvious you two are in love, and what you have is good and strong. And that's important. You're young, you have NO idea _how_ important that is, in today's world. Ben, you're my son, and I love you. Hux, you're my son now, too, and I love you, too."

Both boys were stunned into silence; and then Kylo cleared his throat, and said,

"Exactly how much wine have you had tonight, dad?"

Han laughed and hugged his son to him. "That's the Solo in you; responding to an emotional moment with sarcasm. You're my boy, alright."

He pulled away and asked, "Speaking of 'my boy', though; when will you make me and your mom grandparents?"

. . . . . .

Leaving for the evening was a bittersweet experience. On the one hand, Kylo was elated that his relationship with his parents had been tentatively restored. On the other, both boys were exhausted, both from the food, and the emotional torrent that had been unleashed tonight.

Kylo's father and Luke had agreed to come to one of Kylo's hockey games in the coming month. And Hux had invited the four over for dinner at their apartment next week.

The ride home was mostly silent, each boy lost in their own thoughts.

Smoky was sleeping in her box when they came in, and both tiptoed past her into the bedroom, to change clothes.

"Thank you," Kylo said, after a long spell of quiet.

"For?"

"For encouraging me to go. I never would have gone on my own. Now I don't have to hurt anymore, you know? It feels _good_."

Hux wrapped his arms around him, kissing his cheek. "I'm glad, baby. Glad for me, too; I'd forgotten what a good cook your mother is. Maybe now I'll fatten up."

Kylo smiled at that. "Fatten up, grow a beard, and next year at Christmas you can go as a red headed Santa, and I can go as an elf."

"You're a bit too tall for an elf, love. Maybe we could hire a kid to do that."

"So my dad, asking us about kids. I think that'll have to wait a few years, but that doesn't mean we can't have 'practice' runs, right?"

"Practice runs? Kylo, I really hate to break this to you, but no matter how much we 'practice', that's just not how pregnancy works."

"Shhh," Kylo murmured, putting his fingers to Hux's lips. "Don't ruin it with your logic."

"But I'm just saying --"

Kylo cut him off with a kiss, and then another one. He pushed him gently back into the bed and climbed on top of him, still kissing him.

"Kylo," Hux muttered after awhile, when he was let up for air, "Before this goes any farther, I need to go dose myself for the night."

Kylo kissed him one last time and let him up.

"I'll be awaiting your return," he said seductively, stretching himself into an inviting pose on the bed.

Hux went into the bathroom and gave himself his nighttime insulin.

He came back out . . .

. . . and Kylo was asleep on the bed, curled up into a ball, breathing softly in and out.

Hux stood looking down on him for a long time, feeling such a tidal wave of love and pride that he was afraid it would crush him.

He crawled into bed next to him, pulling the blankets over them, before nodding off to sleep beside him.


End file.
